February 10, 2013

Update: feb.10, 2013

I have copied the creative writing posts from here into realms and dreamscapes. From here on out, this will be my spirituality journal and daily update combined. R&D will bef my creative writing efforts, epsecially for nanos, but also for my books. I haven’t decided about Whispers in the dark yet. Maybe I’ll use it for world building and book developement stuff. PT may also get some crochet stuff since that is one of my undertakings and it is for the prayer shawl group in the end which is a spiritual endeavor.

Ash Wednesday is in three days. I can hardly wait. Fr. Eric had a great sermon today about what lent is really for. It’s not about the body so much as it is about the spirit and our relationship with the Lord. He pointed out how the music gets softer and the flowers go away and the statues get covered up to take us further into the desert for an intimate experience with God. I am reading a book on the spiritual exercises of st. ignatius. I would like to make them for the lenten season. I tried the imaginitive meditation it describes for the rosary the other day and it worked really well.

I finally got to give my carmelite class on Elijah this month. It went over quite well. We had a few minutes of discussion at the end about his personality and how his experience on Mt. Carmel reveals his rather wicked sense of humor. I suggested that we do a document of the church for May when we’re done with the current saints list. I hope we’ll do Dominum et Vivificantem by JPII. My other suggestions are Fides et Ratio, Veritatas Spendor, Gaudium et Spes or Apostolicam Actuositatem. Yes, I love encyclicals, can you tell?

Our day of recollection is next month. I may not be going. I would not get back to durham early enough to take the saturday train. Kathy wouldn’t be able to take me on sunday. If her friends are not available I will have to miss it this year. However, Thursday is a full day of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. I could go to church that day instead and make a day of retreat. There’s a bench outside under the tree where I could eat lunch. The church has a bathroom. There’s confession from five to six. Mass is at 7am and 8:45am. Benediction at 9:15am. Definitely do-able.

I must remember that the catholic writer’s guild has a sunday evening chat at 9pm tonight. I want to start listening to them. I was going to attend their online confrence but due to unforseen circumstances, it has been canceled. rats. rats and toadstools. I hope to learn a lot of new ideas for writing as a catholic fiction author. I want to encorporate my faith and the catholic worldview into my fantasy writings. It has been a real challenge so far. It’s especially hard since I want to appeal to modern readers who are currently enjoying the witch, vampire and angel paranormal / occult styles of fantasy. With the hostility that modern society displays towards the church in the real world I am wondering how to present the faith in a way that won’t automatically send potential readers running.